I learned the value of a well burnished scraper early on in my woodworking education. After high school, I went to work as a part time shop helper for a woodworking author and cabinetmaker. One of the first things I learned was how to burnish (sharpen) and properly use a scraper. As anyone who has used one knows, there is nothing better for prepping a surface for finishing by removing mill or plane marks.
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, a scraper is simply a piece of thin (around .025") tool steel. They can be ground to any size or shape. I normally used two, a rectangular one about 4" X 3" and a curved one for scraping such surfaces and moldings. We used them for final prep work on projects before finishing, for removing glue from panels, for getting inside impossible to reach corners, and for removing tool marks. These were the days before oscillating spindle sanders, triangle sanders, and random orbit sanders. (I still believe you can't achieve a smoother surface than with a scraper).
The only complaint I ever had with scrapers was using them, not the smooth surfaces they produce. To get the best result from a scraper you must curve it slightly as you draw it along a board. This produces a thin shaving about the thickness of cigarette paper. Curving a piece of tool steel with your hands is hard enough but holding that position for a long period of time can quickly become excruciating. And, believe me, I got to know this feeling well. As the shop helper, I prepped all of the pieces we built.
Then one day in the shop I was looking over a new mail order woodworking tools catalogue we had received. To my astonishment, there was an ad for a scraper holder. My first thought was, "Why didn't I think of that?" My second thought was, "How soon can we get one!"
I was able to talk my boss into springing for one. Scraping by hand for the few days it took for the holder to arrive was difficult, but was quickly replaced by the joy of the package delivery drivers appearance at the shop. I couldn't wait to try out our new tool.
I wasn't disappointed. It worked beautifully. And to this day I have used a scraper holder whenever possible for scraping. If it wasn't for the mail order catalog, my love of woodworking might have been lost in the drudgery of hand scraping.
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